


Why do you hate me?

by Ohshitmyship



Series: Just Avengers Things [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: I just really wanted Steve and Peter to interact and I'm really mad that they haven't yet in canon, Multi, Parental Steve, Steve is a Rebel, a bicon, aside from fights, if you will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 22:22:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15805722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohshitmyship/pseuds/Ohshitmyship
Summary: Steve wonders if their youngest addition hates him and if so, why? He wants to clear up anything between them and while he is good at confrontation, he's still awkward, and Peter is trying really hard to not call him Mr. Rogers.





	Why do you hate me?

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by @smarmyanarchist on tumblr with a post about captain america's detention videos so I had to write this. Happy reading!

It was after a debriefing on their rescue mission in Haiti when Steve spotted Peter, talking on the phone. Steve was walking with Bucky, who noticed him looking.

“It’s bugging you, isn’t it?”

“What?” Steve turned to Bucky’s knowing smile.

“Why he fought against you, even though he didn’t know what you had done and you were a national war hero. It’s bugging you because you don’t know why he fought against you.”

Steve sighed, “Yeah, you’re right. I mean, it’s not like I expect kids to worship me or anything like that, and I’m glad he’s rebelling against all that propaganda of me and-”

“Steve.” Bucky fixed him with a stern look, “I get it. He doesn’t. Talk to the kid.”

Steve nodded and smiled, clapping Bucky on the shoulder as he walked over to the kid.

“-Aunt May, got it. Love you too. Bye.”

“Is that your aunt?” Steve asked politely, causing Peter to turn around, “How is she?”

Peter narrowed his eyes slightly in suspicion, “Fine. Why do you ask?”

_ Shit, was that something I wasn’t supposed to talk about? Shit.  _ “Well, I know it can be tough to have a loved one be in constant danger, just want to know how she’s holding up. If she ever wants to talk about it over tea, I’m always available.”

Peter sighed and looked at his phone, “Uh, yeah. Sure.”

“Do you have a ride home?” Why was he asking?

“Yeah, Mr. Stark is gonna drive me,” Peter said easily, looking at texts, “but he said he has some stuff he has to do first, and Happy is busy.”

_ Good, so we have some time.  _ “Would you mind walking with me?”

Peter looked at him, then his messages, then shrugged, “Sure, uh….”

“Steve,” he offered with a smile, “or if you want, Captain Rogers. They never officially discharged me from the military, so I still hold the title.”

“Okay, Captain.”

Steve smiled and started walking down the hallway that would lead to the garden. It was new, but it was quiet and peaceful.

“So, how are you handling being Spider-Man?”

Peter shrugged, “Good, I guess. I like helping people out best I can, doing little things, being a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. The big stuff is fun too, but...it’s scary.”

“Sometimes it’s like that,” Steve admitted, “but sometimes you have to do what scares you, and that makes you a better hero and a better person at the end.”

“Like getting turned to dust?” Peter teased lightly.

Steve laughed, “Well, I’m sure that counts, albeit it wasn’t entirely voluntary.”

“True.”

It was quiet for a moment then, and a bit awkward. Steve figured he may as well ask, but he couldn’t decide how. ‘Why did you side with Stark when we fought?’ and ‘Do you hate me?’ were both candidates. He started to ask one, but he changed his mind part way through and felt instant regret.

“Why do you hate me?”

Peter stopped cold, his face filled with surprise and a little bit of fear. Steve felt immediately bad and tried to backtrack.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t- I meant to say something else but- I’m sorry.”

Peter frowned and fiddled with his phone, turning it on and off, not looking at Steve, “I don’t hate you, sir.”

_ Relief.  _ “To be honest, I didn’t think you did, my question just came out wrong. I guess I meant to ask- when we fought? Why side with Stark? Why fight at all? And I’m portrayed as some boy-scout American hero, national treasure and all that. Why fight against that?”

Peter shrugged, not entirely looking at Steve, “Mr. Stark found me, offered me things I wanted, needed. He got me a much better suit so I could help people more, trained me, gave me an opportunity to make a better life for me and my aunt. He said I didn’t have to fight if I didn’t want to, and he still would give me what I needed, but I wanted some real action, and fighting against Captain America is some pretty good action. Plus…” Peter smiled at him sheepishly, “the videos.”

“The- oh God.” Steve pictured his old Avengers uniform (God how he had hated that one, so kitschy, ineffective, tight with no armour), being forced to read off teleprompters in front of a camera with a fake smile, lecturing kids about puberty, gym class, detention, patience, importance of eating healthy, staying in school, not doing drugs (that one was ironic considering he was a drug experiment), and pretty much everything else that the makers thought was wrong with ‘kids these days’.

“I hated those videos,” Steve said with a groan, “I spent like a week in costume making them. They were what I hated about being Captain America.”

Peter cocked his head to the side in confusion, “I don’t understand…”

Steve sighed, thinking of his time as a showman in the forties, “When I first became, well,  _ me,  _ the scientist who created me was killed, and the serum with him. No one knew how to replicate it, so I was the only success. I was supposed to be used as a super soldier on the front lines, defending freedom and peace. It was all that I wanted for years- to be able to help people, take down bullies- but they set me up as a dancing monkey, putting on shows across the country as propaganda. I was just a muscle man in a suit, telling people to join the army and buy Series E bonds- each one you buy is a bullet in the barrel of your best guy’s gun. All for the war effort, they told me. Then I went to France to their basecamps, put on shows for them. I saw how bleak and awful it was, but I was still onstage, waxing about keeping bravery in a shit suit that wouldn’t stop a Nerf bullet. Oh, excuse my language.”

Peter shook his head, “S’okay. But when you were in France, that’s when you rebelled and saved Bucky and the others, right? They made you a real Captain.”

Steve nodded, “Yeah. I loved it. Not the war mind you, I hated that too, but for a lot of different reasons. I loved being able to help people, using my abilities to make a difference in the fight. I knew I was an asset, and I made them know it too, so they had to use me, like Dr. Erskine wanted.”

“So why did you go down?” Peter asked softly, “In the plane, I mean. We looked at it in history class and there were other ways out….”

Steve sighed, looking out at the garden they were arriving at, “I… was in a bad place.”

It seemed that Peter sensed the finality in Steve’s tone and moved on, “Oh. So then you woke up and they made you do it all over again?”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, but a different kind of propaganda. They made it to feed it to kids, make them obedient and docile. Kids have never been that way, and that’s good. If we don’t have the next generation rebelling against us, we’re never going to change. I was called a rebellious kid, lectured by adults about how kids these days are so disrespectful and dishonest. Seems that hasn’t changed.”

“It sucks,” Peter admitted as they stepped out into the garden, “we make jokes about it now, but life kinda sucks for kids like us. The economy is crashing, the 1% is taking so much from everyone else, I’ll most likely never be able to own a house, without Mr. Stark paying for me, college would be almost impossible. When we try to speak up and say, “hey, this sucks!”, people shut us down, talk about how back in their day, they could pay for college working part time!” Peter was getting angry now, gesturing as he spoke, “But times have changed! The price of schooling has gone up exponentially while the minimum wage has barely been raised. I have friends who juggle two jobs, school, and taking care of family just so they could have a chance at going to school. Not to mention that college is made out as the ‘be all end all’ where if we don’t go we’re seen as failures and useless in society and- oh.” Peter stopped when he saw Steve smiling at him, “Sorry, I just kind of started ranting.”

Steve laughed then, loud and hearty. He clapped a hand on Peter’s shoulder and grinned at him, “Peter, you sound just like me.”

Peter grinned at this, “Really, Captain?”

Steve nodded, “Sure! Peter, you have qualities of both Stark and myself, you’re the best combination of the two of us. And for that, you’ll go far in life. And to be honest, I’m jealous of you two that way.”

“Really?” Peter didn’t seem to believe it.

“Yeah. Because of how I became this way, I was never able to be my own person- the world looked at a military captain and saw a boy scout. But you and Stark, you’re your own person. Stark took his abilities by the reins, showed the world who he was with no one stopping him. Your mentor is a man who was never afraid to be himself, which means you’ll be able to make your own decisions. I’ll forever be jealous of that, but never tell Stark, okay?”

Peter laughed, “Sure, Captain Rogers.” Then his phone pinged and he looked at it, “Oh, he says he’s ready now. I’ll tell him to meet us here.”

“Sure.”

“Oh…” Peter said sheepishly, “by the way.... I’m sorry I was rude about my aunt earlier.”

“It’s alright,” Steve assured, “I didn’t mean to overstep.”

“It’s not that...it’s just...I know she’s young and pretty and a lot of people make jokes about it, so I can get kind of defensive of her. Plus, it would be kind of weird if you started dating my aunt.”

Steve  _ really  _ laughed at this, losing his mind at the implications.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Steve said, finally able to contain his laughter, “I’m not looking to date your aunt. I’m seeing someone else.”

Peter’s eyes widened. He leaned in, speaking quietly, “Who?”

Steve leaned in too, mimicking the volume, adding to the conspiratory feel, “Bucky.”

Peter looked like someone had just told him that he had passed a test which he thought he failed- immense surprise, but joy too.

“No way.”

Steve leaned back and nodded, “Yup.”

“How...how long?”

“Officially? Since he came out of cryo in Wakanda.”

“Unofficially?”

“August 17th, 1936.”

“So you’re....?”

“Bisexual. It’s okay, you can say it. It’s a good time to wake up, I think. I can wear my pride without much worry.”

“Hey, Pete!” They both turned as Tony strode in, smiling, “What’s up?”

“Just, um, talking to the Captain.”

Tony walked up to them and eyed Steve suspiciously, “You didn’t try to like, get him to join the army?”

“Only a little,” Steve teased, “but he said he wasn’t interested.”

“Good,” Tony said, “not a big fan of military. Anyways kid, time to get you home.”

“Okay!” Peter followed as Tony walked away, waving goodbye to Steve as they left the garden.

Steve watched them go and then sat down at one of the benches, taking in the conversation and the air around him. Not a bad day.

  
  
  
  


**BONUS:**

“Ned! Ned!”

His friend hadn’t even really walked in the door before Peter dragged him to his room, shutting the door behind him.

“What?” He cried, “Did something happen? Is there another alien invasion? Thanos is back? Another civil war??”

“No, no,” Peter said excitedly, “I was at the debriefing right, and I talked to Captain Rogers-”

“You talked with Captain America?!” Ned yelled, excited.

“Shh, and I think he’s technically Nomad now. Anyways, I talked to him and you know those videos we had to watch?”

“Yeah, the awful ones with him?”

“Yeah he hated those! Called them propaganda!”

“NO WAY!”

“Yeah!” Peter said, getting more hyped, letting out the nerves and excitement he had felt the moment the captain had walked up to him, “And he said he was just like us and kids are always rebellious and it’s a good thing and he sees a lot of himself and Mr. Stark in me!”

“Dude!” Ned cried, “Cap- Nomad thinks of you as him and Stark’s love child!”

“Not quite like that, but yeah! Oh!” Peter said, remembering the best part and speaking quietly, Ned leaning in closer, “And he told me something- he’s dating someone.”

“Who is it?” Ned asked. He was quiet, but obviously barely containing excitement, “Is it that blonde agent? I heard you mention her.”

“No,” Peter said, “I remember her, something about it not working out. Anyways, he’s dating Bucky.”

“Wait.  _ The  _ James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes? The Winter Soldier? The White Wolf? Him?”

“Yeah! He said that they were officially together when Bucky was in Wakanda, but they’ve been together since 1936!”

“Yo, that’s so romantic! Wait!” Ned yelled this, grabbing Peter’s shoulders, his eyes wide as his grin.

“What?” Peter was excited, but also a little nervous for what Ned was about to say.

“It’s stars  _ and  _ stripes!”


End file.
